The border of National capital Delhi has been witnessing a huge crowd agitation being carried out by farmers from Punjab and Haryana against the Farm Bills. The protest in Delhi has created quite a huge impact and agitation globally too. Very few knew about the reason behind farmers protesting against this Farm Bill.
The Farm Bills include a shell where farmers are allowed to sell their produce directly to the corporate which led to fears among farmers about MSP (Minimum Support Price). They think that might pull off the MSP safety net from under their feet.
The farmers from Haryana and Punjab are mainly protesting against two farm bills that the Rajya Sabha has recently passed through a voice vote after ruckus and intervention. The two farm bills had already cleared the Lok Sabha.
The Farmers Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Bill, 2020 allows farmers to sell their produce outside the Agricultural Produce Market Committee regulated markets that are government-controlled markets and mandis. The Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Bill, 2020 makes provision for the setting up of a structure for contract farming.
Now, the basic question which comes in everyone’s mind is how are these bills going to benefit the farmers of our nation. According to Gurucharan Das, an Economics expert, that these farm laws offer three basic freedom to the farmers. Firstly, this bill will defeat a monopoly as it allows farmers to sell their produce anywhere to anyone. Second, it allows free to store inventory which was constrained so far by stocking limits ESCA. Thirdly, farmers are allowed to make contracts and transfer the risk to businessmen.
The government has no such plans to end government procurement system or MSP policy. The central ministers and PM Narendra Modi reassure to have written guarantee that MSP will not be withdrawn.
According to farmers, these Farm Bills are encouraging them to do deals with large corporate but farmers do not have trust in them.